Thursday, July 06, 2006

I just walked out to my garden to change the full bag of Japanese beetles and realized there are so many beetles all around now that I cannot go in my garden. Don't use the bags!!! Then I come in and check my email and Heather tells me to get rid of the bags because they attact even more than they trap!! Here is info from the link she sent me:

"Japanese beetle traps are sold in many garden centers. Commercially available traps attract the beetles with two types of baits. One mimics the scent of virgin female beetles and is highly attractive to males. The other bait is a sweet-smelling food-type lure that attracts both sexes. This combination of ingredients is such a powerful attractant that traps can draw in thousands of beetles in a day.

Research conducted at the University of Kentucky has shown that the traps attract many more beetles than are actually caught. Consequently, susceptible plants along the flight path of the beetles and in the vicinity of traps are likely to suffer much more damage than if no traps are used at all. In most landscape situations, use of Japanese beetle traps probably will do more harm than good. If you experiment with traps, be sure to place them well away from gardens and landscape plants."


APPARENTLY, I have hung out a sign in my garden that reads "COME TO MY GARDEN FOR VIRGIN GIRL BEETLES READY TO MATE" No wonder I can't pick my squash and zucchini for all of the beetles. That sign would work on any species!! We will be removing the bags and getting some good old sevin dust instead!

2 comments:

Julie Anne said...

LOL!!! Not funny that you're having this pain-in-the-rear, but hilarious about the "sign" out in your garden.

Were you trying to do the organic thing and not use sevin dust at all this year? I've never gardened, but often wondered how easy/hard it is to do the organic thing.

~d said...

You should get one of those signs where the woman is like all bent over the garden and her butt looks all huge-do you know what I mean? Maybe I will have to look for one.